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Diagonal Diary: Sustainable fuels, Mexican F1 drivers and a team name transformation

Monday 28th October

The week at Diagonal Comms begins with a whole team meeting. To kick things off, we discuss last weekend’s Mexico City Grand Prix, which saw controversial clashes between title rivals Max Verstappen and Lando Norris for the second time in as many races, how we predict this season’s championship fight will unfold and what we think 2025 will bring for Lewis Hamilton at Scuderia Ferrari.

With the most pressing topics covered, we debrief our latest activities, review the lay of the land with current and prospective clients, and plan for the week ahead. While, on paper, the beginning of the off-season for many series around the world signifies more opportunities to relax than usual, the work is not slowing down, and we have a busy week coming up.

The flow of 2025 news begins for our client, the British Touring Car Championship. Team BRISTOL STREET MOTORS, who fielded Tom Chilton and title challenger Tom Ingram full-time this season, announces that they will transform into Team VERTU next year. They mark the change with a striking temporary livery, which you can see more of here, where you can find all the details of their revamp.

Tuesday 29th October

The latest column for Motorsport Magazine written by our MD, Matt Bishop, is published. Matt looks at the careers of all six Mexican Formula 1 drivers in the wake of this year’s Mexican Grand Prix, which was won last Sunday by Carlos Sainz in dominant fashion, while home hero Sergio ‘Checo’ Perez finished a lowly 17th. Perez is Mexico’s only current F1 driver but the country’s first superstars raced in the 1960s. Brothers Pedro and Ricardo Rodríguez competed at the pinnacle of single-seater racing throughout the decade – and in elder brother Pedro’s case, into the 1970s – as did Moisés Solana, whilst Hector Rebaque competed in F1 from 1977 to 1981. You can learn more about their careers, tragic in some cases, and the modern tenures of Esteban Gutiérrez and Perez here.

In our City of London office, our team makes some final adjustments to a short high-octane video for the BTCC focused on their partnership with LIQUI MOLY, the German motor oil and additive manufacturer and Official Oil and Lubricants Partner of the series. In conjunction, we make some more tweaks to the 2025 BTCC marketing brochure, which is nearing its completion.

Wednesday 30th October

News from the BTCC is still flying in as the series announces the dates of its 2025 Season Launch and Official Test Days.

Two Official Test Days will take place at Croft at the beginning of April – yes, we are already making plans for April Fools’ Day – and the 2025 Season Launch will be on April 15th at Donington Park. There’s good news for those of you missing the BTCC just as much as us, as both venues will be offering free entry to spectators! You can read more about the details of both events in the press release written and distributed by our team here.

Meanwhile, we pull together a coverage report for our client Asetek SimSports, the Danish sim racing hardware manufacturer, focused on the event that we organised with their CEO Andre Eriksen and 2024 British F4 champion Deagen Fairclough at the Royal Automobile Club in June, and have a short phone call with the founder and CEO of an exciting social media platform.

Thursday 31st October

The latest episode of And Colossally That’s History, the podcast hosted by Matt Bishop and Richard Williams, is published. Having delved into the story of McLaren’s victory on debut at the 24 hours of Le Mans in 1995, the pair shift gears this week and look back on all of the American teams that have come and gone from Formula 1, prompted by Andretti Global’s tumultuous attempts to join the grid. You can listen to the full podcast here.

It’s another exciting day for the BTCC as it announces the introduction of 100% sustainable fossil-free fuel in all cars next season and the discontinuation of the hybrid power system. The series will become the first in the United Kingdom to run fully sustainable fuel in all entries, once again setting itself apart as a leader of innovation in motorsport after it became the first touring car series in the world to confirm the use of hybrid power way back in 2018, before officially launching it for the 2022 season. You can read more about what’s changing in 2025 on the BTCC’s website.

We finish the day by making some final revisions to a pitch for a promising young British sportscar racer who is embarking on the ‘road to Le Mans’. 

Friday 1st November

Friday at Diagonal Comms is dominated by online meetings with an American company engaged in high-level motorsport. We also work on a season’s end coverage report for one of our 2024 clients, tying together statistics from race weekend video coverage to press release generation, mainstream media coverage and everything in between.

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